Event crowns winners across the fruit, vegetable and flower industries

Winners have been announced in the FPC Fresh Awards 2023, which took place at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London on Friday 29 September.

The event was hosted by celebrity food writer Jay Rayner and saw winners crowned in a series of categories across the fresh produce, cut flower, and plants sectors.

The Lifetime Achievement Award was bestowed upon industry stalwart Martin Hudson, who is a highly experienced and well-respected figure with a career spanning 44 years. He is best known for his 25-year tenure at Flamingo Group International, which he co-founded and helped build into the UK’s largest added-value grower and direct supplier of cut flowers, plants, and prepared vegetables.

At the event Flamingo Group International was named Overall Fresh Produce Business of the Year, while Freshgro was named UK Grower of the Year and BelOrta was International Grower of the Year. Fresh Direct was crowned best Wholesale Fruit & Veg Supplier, with The Horti House collecting the same prize for plants. Mark Murphy Edinburgh won Foodservice Supplier of the Year.

AC Goatham and Flamingo Horticulture were named best supermarket suppliers of fruit & veg and floral/plants respectively.

The Rising Star of the Year award went to Raviteja Burugu of Wootzano, and Emma Dawes of Driscoll’s was honoured as Manager of the Year.

Sustainability and innovation in focus

Blue Skies won both the Best Place to Work and the Sustainability Excellence Ethical Award. Clarifruit and GrowUp Farms were also recognised for their sustainability efforts, winning the Supply Chain and Climate awards respectively.

Sony bagged the Agritech Excellence Award, and G’s Growers took home the Innovation Excellence Award.

Retail and supply chain excellence

In the retail and supply chain categories, Aldi and Marks & Spencer were voted as the Multiple Fruit & Veg and Floral Retailers of the Year respectively.

The Co-op was named Convenience Retailer of the Year, while Asda and Bloom & Wild were in turn crowned Online Retailers of the Year for fruit & veg and floral.

Teams and initiatives

MorePeople won Team of the Year, and Dole UK was recognised for its HR Initiative of the Year.

The Best Marketing Campaign award went to Red Tractor, highlighting the power of effective storytelling in the industry.

Smurfit Kappa won the award for Business Service Partner of the Year.

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